Nepal: No satellite launching plan so far
- By Zhang Junmian
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail China.org.cn, June 8, 2013
Nepal's Vice President Parmanand Jha said, on Friday, that the country wasn't planning on launching its first satellite before 2015, during the reception held at the Nepali Embassy in China.
|
|
|
Nepal's Vice President Parmanand Jha (C) attended a reception held at the Embassy of Nepal in China on Friday. [Photo by Zhang Junmian/China.org.cn] |
When commenting on a recent Indian media report that Nepal may launch its first satellite before 2015, Jha said he wasn't aware of the plan.
"It may be exaggerated. It's currently impossible. Maybe in the future it may become true, but right now I have never heard about it."
The May 6 Indian report said that an orbital slot provided to Nepal by the International Telecommunication Union decades ago would expire in 2015, prompting the country to begin the long-discussed project with newfound urgency. The report stresses that as Nepal began to examine the feasibility of launching its first satellite before 2015, the country may turn to China, and China's Great Wall Industry Corporation for help.
The country has set up a committee to study the plan's feasibility, according to an online report on The Himalayan Times' website on May 5. Nepal has to use the orbital slot by 2015, and it will be difficult to claim it again if it fails to do so, the report said.
Nepal's TV channels and weather forecasting offices currently pay about US$25 million per year to access international satellite services, according to another report from Xinhua.
Jha is paying a five-day official visit to China, including a trip to the ongoing First China-South Asian Expo in Kunming, Yunnan Province.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)